The Magnolia Beauty

It was the only thing that Suyin could understand: mumble of words before she blacked out again.

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Suyin could hear a crackle of fire pop and the chilly air rushing past her face. She could hardly open her eyes with the pain pounding on her head. She felt sore from her arms, possibly from the fall from knocking out unconscious by Meifeng"s brother.

That was when Suyin instantly forced her eyes open. Suyin laid on a thick blanket on the cold, ground with a small bonfire near her. She gently got up, still groggy from the sleep medicine Huang Wen had put in their tea.

It was already night time, but there was no one in sight around her. Suyin had roamed around the area, unfamiliar to her. Someone had brought her into a cave, presumably either to camp out and wait until morning to bring her to someone or rescue her.

Someone"s outer robe hung on one of the rocks. The path to the cave was nearby and Suyin had noticed that the robe"s color was a jade-green colored outer robe, something that a man would wear.

"Qin...Fuhua?" She spoke to herself softly gazing at the robe.

The entrance to the cave wasn"t that far from where Suyin was at, but why was she in the cave all of a sudden? Suyin recollected that Huang Wen had drugged Meifeng and her, which she found to be odd of him to do, and then suddenly, she appeared in a cave! Wouldn"t it be correct if Suyin was in a jail cell or something similar to that if she was unconscious and they were trying to capture her?

Suyin heard footsteps outside of the cave and light from the fire torch began to glow bigger the closer the person got to the entrance of the cave. Suyin raced back to the little bed and closed her eyes, pretending as if she never woke up.

"Sigh. Miss Suyin is still sleeping. There isn"t any time to waste..." The voice expressed.

The owner of the voice was the last person that Suyin heard before she was unconscious! Was it really the voice of Qin Fuhua?

Suyin took a peek with her right eye to see who the person was. The man sat down by the little bonfire, setting two fish on a stick on the fire to let it cook.

Suyin realized the man was not Qin Fuhua, Weizhe, nor Huang Wen.

The man detected Suyin trying to take a glimpse as he lit a small smile to his face.

"It seems like there"s no hope in saving the village. After all, there really is one way of finding out what the disease really is..."

Suyin tried so hard to keep her eyes closed, keeping it a bit too tight. The man glanced at her from the corner of his eyes as he continued to flip the fish to make sure it was fully cooked.

It was intriguing enough that this person had some sort of idea, and she needed to know if he was someone who was on her side, Shi Zhang"s, or someone else.

It wasn"t possible that the man was Qin Fuhua since he was taken as a hostage in exchange for Suyin to save the village.

"I know you are awake." The man explained.

He grasped on the idea that she was fake sleeping when he noticed her eyes were twitching. He lit up a small smile on his face, a mischevious one as Suyin sat up.

"Just who are you?" The woman gave a straightforward question, one that would let her know whether she was facing a friend or foe. She turned to the man, whose face was someone she had never seen before.

There was a saying that people said long before that the first impression people gave should not be judged.

The first thing she remarked was the scar on his right cheeks. The scar was about an inch long, but it didn"t bother her because the man had mesmerizing, light-brown eyes. His hair was down with a topknot on his top head tied with a green cloth, revealing his long and beautiful hair.

Staring at the side profile of him, he had a playful expression on his face, as if the current situation was just a little game that he was playing.

"Woah, Woah. Is this what you do to someone who just saved you?" He said, lifting both of his hands like a culprit.

"Saved...me?" She hesitated and stared up to think. She promptly brought both of her arms to her chest, covering her chest. "Did you take advantage of me?!"

Suyin was ready to beat this guy up. Whether or not this person was serious about what he had said, she had remembered about hearing a man"s gentle voice before she lost conscious. The owner of that voice was actually this guy! Because of his sweet voice, maybe he did something to her!

"H-Hey! A real man does not take advantage of a woman who has no desire!" He justified himself with an offended tone.

Based on what the man said, it seemed like Suyin could really trust him, though. She felt her clothes, which was unaffected by the person since she still had her blue book with her in her robe.

"Who are you," Suyin demanded an answer from him. She had to be cautious with who she was talking to since Huang Wen made her lose her trust in the people in the village.

"Chen Zhaohui." Zhaohui casually responded with no suspicion of her. He was more engrossed in cooking the fish thoroughly instead of Suyin.

"Well, I am Han--"

"Suyin. I know." He cut Suyin off. He stood up and walked towards Suyin with a fish on a stick, handing it to her. "Eat first before we discuss anything."

Suyin glared at him and then the fish, unsure whether or not she should be eating it. Maybe he poisoned it or something, but she didn"t want to take the chance. "I"m not hungry."

She was firm about it, but her eyes were ready to devour the food since she didn"t get a chance to eat.

"Are you sure?"

Suyin nodded, trying to avoid the fish.

"Okayyy." Zhaohui took the fish and took a bite of it, munching on it. Suyin could bear the hunger in her head, but her stomach was just not cooperating with her.

In order to avoid any more thoughts about food, Suyin changed the topic. "Why did you save me for? How do you know my name?"

Zhaohui took a bite of the cooked fish and stopped when Suyin asked him the question. He lowered the fish and squatted right next to Suyi, stared up, and got into a deep thought of "why" he saved her.

"Hm..." He rubbed his chin sarcastically as if it was hard for him to think about his answer. "I kind of overheard your conversation when you were with that lady and man earlier." He confessed. Suyin gave him a glare, upset that he was eavesdropping on their conversation.

He shrugged his shoulders at her response. "Hey, what can I do when I have a solution to the problem?" Suyin"s gaze then loosened.

Although she was suspicious of Zhaohui, his tone and att.i.tude sounded like he was really telling her the truth.

"Anyway. I followed you guys behind since I wanted to talk to you privately." Zhaohui placed the stick of fish at the side, crossing his arms as he turned to her. "Someone gave that man money to drug you. He is trying to intervene with your investigation."

"How do you know all of this?!" Suyin was outraged. How would she believe him now? Was he trying to manipulate her or was he really telling her the truth?

"Shi Zhang had come up with a plan to intervene whoever was trying to help with the village. I guess, he lost all hope to the people outside of this town to help. I"m guessing the man (Huang Wen) earlier had planned to intervene since Shi Zhang paid those people for it." Suyin glanced at the pit of his elbow while he spoke.

Although Suyin didn"t have much knowledge about the people in the village, Huang Wen had the tattoo at the pit of his elbow, but what about this man? Was he someone outside of the village?

Suyin glared at him, unsure whether or not she should trust him. "And what do you think I should believe in everything you said?" She pointed at the pit of his elbow, "Someone who doesn"t have the ident.i.ty of Jiao shouldn"t be talking to me."

Zhaohui laughed and shook his head. "You can believe me on this. I am on your side in curing the village." He stood up and grabbed his scabbard, throwing it in front of Suyin. "If you don"t believe in me, you can point my sword to me." The man was serious this time, gazing through her eyes. Suyin stared at the scabbard and tossed it back to him at the bottom of his feet.

"Then tell me, who are you and where do you come from?" Suyin questioned, still skeptical of the man.

"I"ll let you know at another time. Finding the cure for the village as soon as possible is more important than anything else right now." Zhaohui explained.

Although Suyin would hate to admit it, he was correct. Time was ticking and this person is the only one that she can really trust now. He had saved her from trouble and there was really nothing for her to lose since she now knows that the Shi Zhang had already planned to stop whoever the Prince was bringing with him.

"You have to think that the Shi Zhang would keep the Prince hostage and make the King of Qin pay a huge price in exchange for their son," Zhaohui commented, causing Suyin to look at him.

He gazed at her, "this means that if that would have happened, it would"ve been your fault. The King of Qin wouldn"t let you go so easily then."

Suyin had guessed correctly at Shi Zhang"s laugh when he met him.

With all of this happening, it was easy for the Prince to fall in the hands of Shi Zhang to get his favor, but why would he do that to his people?

"Anyway, get some rest. We have some investigating to do tomorrow." Zhaohui said, stretching.

Suyin agreed.

If this man was true to his words, she believed that maybe he wasn"t someone so bad after all.

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"Han Suyin. Wake up." Suyin gently lifted her eyes, gazing at the hazy face of Qin Fuhua. "Wake up. We need to finish this mission."

Recognizing that it was Qin Fuhua, she instantly opened her eyes to see the face of Zhaohui watching her.

"It"s morning, young miss."

Zhaohui got his outer robe that hung at the side of the rock. Suyin rubbed her eyes to look at Zhaohui one more time just to make sure it really wasn"t Qin Fuhua. She was probably half-awake, so it caught her off guard.

"S-sorry." Suyin apologized, standing up as she handed him the blanket.

Zhaohui wrapped it around him and noticed that it wasn"t a blanket she was sleeping on the whole time, but it was actually his cloak! Suyin glanced at where he slept, which was the cold, hard ground.

His scabbard and elbow was most likely his pillow, so she felt bad. Although she wanted to apologize, he marched out which caused Suyin to chase after him.

Outside of the cave, they could see a stunning view of trees and hills. The cave was right in the middle of a mountain! To be able to climb down from the cliff to reach the cave was amazing enough for Suyin to be afraid of looking down.

"There were some things that I discovered about the village and the disease," Zhaohui delivered, studying the view in front of them. Suyin turned to him as he continued, "This disease was not contagious, which means person to person couldn"t happen. Not just that, but they didn"t show any signs of improvement after taking the medicine for chicken pox. It hurt them even more than ever. According to my inspection, the doctor that had been prescribing medicine was sent by the Long Emperor, w.a.n.g Jianguo."

The Long emperor? Have they been trying to get on the Shi Zhang"s good side? Zhaohui put his right hand in front of Suyin, waiting for her response as she stared at it blankly.

"What is it?" She asked, unsure what he was doing.

"I flew down here to show you my secret pa.s.sage where I stay and you"re giving me a lost expression? I don"t think Young Miss will be able to fly back up, will she?" He teased.

Suyin gazed at the top of the mountain, realizing that maybe he was correct that she doesn"t have any flying abilities to get back up there. She took his hand as he held her, jumping up through the sky in a second. He then landed on the ground.
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Suyin was unstable for a second so Zhaohui waited for her to catch her breath.

"Ugh... Thanks." She thanked. Zhaohui nodded his head with another mischevious smile.

"It seems like Young Miss does not like heights." He teased, grinning at her.

Suyin frowned at his comment and quickly stomped off down the green hill. Zhaohui quickly followed behind, putting his hands behind his back. "We should start by looking--"

Suyin stopped her tracks, causing Zhaohui to turn to her. At the sight of something that made Suyin smile, Zhaohui turned straight to where her eyes were laid on: a handsome man with a couple of soldiers next to him.

"Prince Jianyu!" Suyin placed both of her hands at the side of her mouth, an attempt to yell at him so he could hear her.

Jianyu was dressed in regular, n.o.ble attire that he would not normally wear in the palace. The delicate fabric of the robe glistened from the sun"s reflection, making his presence look even brighter than before. He turned at the sound of his name, sparking a genuine smile at Suyin from afar.

Suyin and Zhaohui were at the top of the hill, opposite of Long Jianyu who stood next to the horse carriage. Suyin hurried down the hills with Zhaohui trailing behind with no sense of the idea of what she was doing as she reached to him.

The guards were alerted and held their spears tighter, in case the pair planned on hurting Prince Long Jianyu.

Jianyu furrowed his brows, lifting his hands up to excuse the hostile atmosphere.

"These are my friends." Long Jianyu shouted in a serious tone. The soldiers then nodded, halting behind the Prince.

"Suyin! It has been a while! I"m glad the plan worked out for you." Long Jianyu smiled as Suyin beamed at him.

"Yes! What are you doing here?" She questioned. Jianyu laughed and scratched his head.

"Nothing much. My father wanted me to go do some charity work with the villagers here to help gain their favor."

Zhaohui then pulled Suyin at the side, leaving Jianyu by himself.

"Don"t you think that we have other things to WORRY about?" He emphasized. Suyin then agreed. Maybe Prince Jianyu was busy himself too. She didn"t have the leisure to talk to him at the moment, but it was nice to see a familiar face. Suyin turned to Prince Jianyu and smiled.

"Well! It was nice seeing you again, but I need to go do some err..." Zhaohui gave her an odd look by scrunching up his face, "ch.o.r.es!" Suyin added, pointing up to the sky. She quickly dragged Zhaohui off, running down the hills to go back to the village.

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It was about a good hike down to get back to the village. Suyin and Zhaohui were well aware that there were some people that tried to stop Suyin according to the Shi Zhang"s orders. Although Suyin didn"t understand why all she could do was to sneak around the villagers by lurking behind the walls and barrels.

"I don"t know, I don"t understand why a woman would want to become a doctor. It"s a woman"s duty to stay home and bear children and take care of them." A villager uttered.

Suyin was behind them, biting her lips so she couldn"t burst out in anger about the idea. Zhaohui noticed her facial expression and patted her shoulders.

"Hey." He whispered. "There is another one of my hiding place near here. That"s where I think the disease had started from." Suyin looked at him, confused about his secret ident.i.ty and place here. Just who was this guy?

Zhaohui guided Suyin cautiously down the wooded areas where Huang Wen first collected wood when they first met. Zhaohui hastened up across the hills of the dried wood, taking a trail that wasn"t tracked on foot by no means.

Zhaohui bustled through bushes and branches with Suyin slowly falling behind. She was only athletic to a certain point, and apparently, Zhaohui had better endurance than her.

Zhaohui would impatiently wait for Suyin to follow behind, then hurry ahead again.

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Suyin was able to follow Zhaohui again after catching her breath, reaching the top of the hill. Zhaohui glanced around, ready to twist a key into his secret entrance, "We can talk in here first--"

Before opening the entrance, he was stopped after he heard a footstep running through the woods.

*FWOOP*

An arrow flew towards Suyin"s way. She was able to avoid at it at the very last second thanks to her fight or flight reflexes, falling down b.u.t.t-first to the ground.

Zhaohui wanted to find who the culprit was but could only see a glance of a masked man in black before he used a smoke bomb, to run away after the attack.

"Who was that?!" Suyin said angrily, p.i.s.sed at whoever was trying to attack her. She wasn"t ready to die yet, but that doesn"t mean that they should be a coward and use such methods to shoot her like that! The arrow stuck on a tree right next to her, so right before Suyin seized the arrow, another sound of rustle could be heard nearby.

"Someone has been watching us."

Zhaohui ran to Suyin and squat down to protect her. He listened to the sound of the rustle of someone"s clothes as if they were flying their way there.